The Crewe-based home improvement chain, which employed 4,000 people at 177 stores, collapsed into administration in May. Administrators Ernst & Young managed to sell 60 stores to rivals B&Q and Wickes, as well as discount chain B&M retail, saving 1,200 jobs.

Focus's secured creditors – GMAC and Bank of Scotland – have been repaid the £32.2m they were owed in full. But FLP3 – an investment vehicle used by Focus's former private equity owner Cerberus Capital – has only received £25m of the £214.7m it was owed as a second-ranking secured lender.

The administrators said unsecured creditors, who are owed £821.1m, will not get their money back. Only £600,000 could be made available to them, a proportion of floating charge assets set aside for non-preferential creditors. This means they would receive "significantly" less than 1p for every £1 owed, as there are about 15,000 claims. The administrators said the cost of paying out this money would be "disproportionate to the benefits".

When Focus fell into administration in May, there were 10,000 customer orders outstanding worth £3m, and the administrators continue to receive claims for unfulfilled customer orders. Suppliers, many of which are small businesses, are owed £61.4m while employees are owed £15.6m and intra-group creditors to Focus and its Do It All brand are owed £415m.

Joint administrators Simon Allport and Tom Jack said: "Despite difficult market conditions in the retail sector we successfully traded the business, for 11 weeks achieving sales in excess of £100m, realising an excellent return for stock held at appointment. Importantly, we were pleased to achieve the sale of option agreements for 58 stores, resulting in the transfer of 1,200 jobs and further realisations of around £46m."

The Focus DIY brand could be resurrected after MFI owner Walker Group bought it from Ernst & Young for a reported £300,000 at the beginning of this month. The Hull-based family has just relaunched MFI, which collapsed two years ago, as an online furniture retailer.